What's in there Wednesday

My lovely SIL is participating in a weekly blogger question that she has passed on to me called, "What's in there Wednesday". I think for her the idea is to get us blogging, especially if we have been idle lately like I have been since my mother's hospitalization.

I followed her directions and went to her blog (see above) where I discovered that this week's "What's in there Wednesday" was "What's in your make-up bag".

So much for my excitement at having a topic to blog about that didn't have anything to do with heart attacks, oxygen tanks, and hospital visits, because if there is one thing, besides nursing, I'm not an expert on, it is make-up.

I am not old enough to have grown up in the era of Leave it to Beaver where the mothers wore dresses and pearls to clean the house. My mother was an athlete who bowled weekly and golfed daily. She rarely wore dresses and only when she wore them did she wear make-up. I had no introduction to make-up, no tutorials on how to apply it, and zero discussions on what was best for my skin tone.

My experiences with make-up were sneaking into my mother's bathroom right before I caught the bus, using her sparse assortment, and then screaming good-bye as I ran out the door so she wouldn't catch me. God only knows what I must have looked like, but I wanted to fit in and be older. I thought make-up was the answer.

As a teenager I tried, but it just seemed like a hassle. In the summers I worked at a pool and life was all about a tan face sans make-up. As a young adult before children, I worked at a pool and make-up just rubbed off after hours teaching in the water. By the time the children came, I was married to a man who hated make-up and so it just didn't really matter to me.

At times I tried. I had a Mary Kay beauty consultant come to my house. I went to a beauty party at someone else's house. I bought the expensive bottles and wands and lip liners, but no matter what I caked on my face I just felt inadequate.

Finally, my good friend, Kelly took matters into her hands. Kelly is never without make-up in public if she can help it. She is a beauty and an expert at the face stuff and watching her perform her daily ritual is fascinating not only to me but to my children. In fact, she is the one that will be educating my children on the art of make-up.

At Christmas in 2006 Kelly discovered Bare Essential make-up and she insisted I try it as it was something she thought I could handle. This is the before photo she took of my natural beauty without Bare Essentials. I emulated the faces of all real people in their before photos.

This is the after photo with Kelly's expertly applied Bare Essentials. I spent the rest of the day staring at myself in the mirror enjoying the beauty of my made-up face. I especially liked the fact that I didn't feel the make-up. With the Mary Kay brand foundation, I felt like I had mud caked on my face and the color was never quite right making me look like I had pancake batter on my face. This make-up was quite nice.

Thus Kelly spent her hard-earned money on setting me up in style with Bare Essentials. She bought me the starter kit from QVC and gave me another lesson on how to use the stuff. She bought me the correct brushes and even set me up with extras from her own stash with some handwritten notes telling me when and how to use it.

Eventually, I used it all up and had to go to Sephora to purchase new make-up on my own, although I was armed with a Bare Essentials catalog with items circled by Kelly. I pretty much handed it over to the clerk and she tossed it all into a little shopping bag and we met up at the cash register.

I don't own a make-up bag. All of my make-up is stored in two pockets of a three pocket basket that sits on my dresser. When I wear make-up, usually during cold weather and special occasions, I pull the following from my basket:

• Bare Essentials bareMinerals foundation with a SPF 15 sunscreen in medium beige, mineral veil, and a tiny "warmth" from Kelly's personal collection, along with the handy dandy brush for use with the foundation.

• BareMinerals compatible blush duo in joyous jennifer and sorbet with the handy dandy brush that came with the starter kit purchased by Kelly.

• BareMinerals blendable eye collection in wine country glimpses, which I purchased alone. The colors are chardonnay glimpse, merlot glimpse, and pinot noir glimpse. Whichever color I wear is the wine that I feel like drinking that night. No, I'm just kidding. 

• While I own these lipsticks, liners and such they are rarely used. Instead, my preferred lip choice is Blistex and Chapstick, and despite a daily and nightly regiment of either or both my lips still looked cracked and chapped.

So, that is my make-up not in my make-up bag. Sigh. A lost cause indeed.

Hospitals I have known

This past week my mother was taken by ambulance to yet another hospital. She wasn't feeling well, was nauseated and vomiting, and was very sleepy. She did not want me to dial 911, but with the encouragement of my brother and her own doctor, I did just that and watched as she was once again whisked off to another hospital, this one at her request.

For the past four years, she has been in and out of various hospitals. I have been with her in an ER at Vanderbilt University, an ER in Indiana and in ERs here in Florida. I have been with her for various stages of pneumonia and two different back surgeries. Each hospital visit has been quite an adventure not only for her but for me as well.

No matter where she ends up she has excitement. Once she was in a room with another woman who was crazy enough that she had to have a sitter with her at all times. Apparently, she had stabbed her boyfriend or husband with a fork or a knife or something. She was a character and my mother just egged her on when she found herself getting bored. She was giving this woman relationship advice and a little bit of therapy to boot.

Another roommate was a little lady that thought my mother led the most interesting soap opera of a life. She was so into my mother's life that she knew all the characters by names and would listen silently behind her curtain to all the gossip from visitors or phone conversations. I thought she would follow my mother home just to keep abreast in her life.

This hospital visit was for pneumonia, despite no evidence of coughing, and low oxygen which put stress on her heart and caused her to have what they think was a mild heart attack (Connie thinks differently). She spent almost a week in the hospital following orders to inhale and exhale into various medical contraptions and complaining about the food. She had lots of antibiotics, a bag of iron, and a blood transfusion.

I took a few photos each day which set some of the nurses into a tizzy thinking I was documenting lack of care, but for the most part, I was just gathering photos for my explanation no blogging.

She came home with us for almost a week on continuous oxygen and returned home this week to fend for herself with the help of home care nurses and physical therapists. Her immune system is quite compromised with all of her steroid use (for medicinal purposes not baseball-related) and so she must treat herself with care. She preferred this hospital over the other one in our area and felt she got great care. She also enjoyed the "united nations feel" of the staff inquiring daily about each member's nationality. (These inappropriate comments have trickled into her language since her hospitalizations and they horrify me more than you can know)

We are both hopeful that she will continue to improve and can avoid any more hospital visits this year. Fingers crossed...

Something beside junk mail in my box

This little gem appeared in my mailbox last week:

It reads:

The (email address included) Steelers Nation has found your mailbox to be out of compliance with the Steelers Fan Code of Ethics which states:

"All red-blooded Steelers Fans will display their loyalty on their mailboxes in a manner which should piss off their opposing fan neighbors."

Please bring this matter up to compliance or you may be sentenced to wearing the opposing team's mascot costume while watching the Steelers play. (Imagine how hot a fuzzy Bear outfit would be)

Go Steelers!

The picture, I assume, is what a Steelers Fan mailbox should be.

I immediately responded:

To whom it may concern,

In regards to the matter of bringing my mailbox into compliance with the neighborhood Steelers Nation, I have taken action and hope to have it resolved within the next month. An order for a Steelers mailbox had already been sent to the North Pole prior to receiving the violation notice, but due to a backorder issue, it will not be sent in the time frame needed to come into compliance. I have hopes that a temporary, but worthy, solution will be in place before long in order to "piss off my opposing fan neighbors". 

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention as I have been quite busy working on turning an ordinary playroom/office into a Pittsburgh Steelers room as great as the one my own neighbor on (I supplied his address) owns. Rest assure that the mailbox situation is under construction and will be in compliance shortly.

Go Steelers!

Several years ago while on the Board of our neighborhood association I had to drop off a gift certificate at this neighbor's house. I was wearing a Steelers shirt when the wife opened the door and so she invited me in to view her husband's Steelers room. He, of course, was not there and thus I'm hoping he will be thrown off guard with that last paragraph.

What fun we Steelers fans are!

Email Goodie

I have friends who, like myself, spend quite a bit of time on the computer. This poem I received, the author not credited, says it quite nicely:

Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me

Why my house was such a mess.

He asked if I'd been 'computering',

And I had to answer 'yes.'

He told me to get off my fanny,

And tidy up the house.

And so I started cleaning up...

The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.

That really did the trick...

I was just admiring my good work.
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops - I found

A real absorbing site

That I got SO way into it
I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my mouse.

It's very, very shiny.

I guess my house will stay a mess...

While I sit here on my hiney.

Random Thoughts

• Why would Troy Polamalu let them put his face on the cover of the new Madden Xbox game? When I saw this cover back in July I moaned and began praying for his health. Didn't do a damn bit of good. Troy got hurt and is out for 3 to 6 weeks. Larry Fitzgerald, start drinking your protein shakes and taking your vitamins. The Madden curse is staring you down now.
• Didn't Sarina Williams' parents teach her sportsmanlike conduct? She is one of my favorite tennis players, but her actions this weekend were horrid and uncalled for and she should be apologizing to the line judge, the US Open officials and the fans instead of excusing her behavior with, ".....in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly." Poorly is not the word I would have used.
• If I were Jay Cutler and had behaved the way he did this past season in Denver, I would have come out yesterday playing the game of my life. Instead, Cutler had 4 interceptions and his whining face on.
• I'm glad I didn't waste my time watching the MTV Video Awards where Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's speech to tell the world someone else should have won. And I'm not impressed with Beyonce bringing her up later on stage to try to save the day. Faked or not it didn't benefit Taylor Swift in anyway. Let's pick on the country people? Whatever. She still has the highest selling rate of recordings this year overall. Country musicians tend to let their work speak for them.
• Hines Ward will have a great game this next Sunday to make up for the dropped pass this past Thursday.
• Why is it that football coaches are getting fatter? Charlie Weiss? Rex Ryan? Andy Reid? Do they even look at themselves in the mirror? Exercise?
• Hurrah for Kim Clijsters! She helped give all mothers a big step up. And while we are at it another cheer for 17-year-old Melanie Oudin who just might give the United States something to look forward to. (Let's just hope her parents are doing their job in the sportsmanship category.)
• Why the hell does the person running the football pool I'm involved in add 4 college games in with 16 NFL games? I've never cared for college football and now I'm having to watch it and learn from it just to try to win the pot.
• Enjoyed the Sears commercial with Brett Favre making fun of himself. Lets hope he really does laugh at himself and can one day find something else to do.
• Thank god there are still gracious and poised athletes out there that make up for all the whiners and tantrum throwers in the sports world. Roger Federer comes to mind. In his last loss he cried instead of threatening someone and cursing, and then he came back and kicked ass the next time he played.

Out of the mouths of my babes

(The names have been changed to protect the innocent (and minors))

Darcy: "On the football bus I'm the only girl so the boys were trying to get information out of me, and I was trying hard to get information out of them."

Me: "Information about who they like?"

Darcy: "Yes, so Colby admitted he has feelings for Mary. They like each other supposedly. But one of the things I found out was that Nicole always said she and Colby were buddies for like seven years and Colby said that wasn't true at all."

Me: "So Nicole likes Colby?"

Darcy: "No she is with Jay."

Me: "Who does Leonard like?"

Darcy: "Nobody. He's single like me."

When gaming becomes a reality

When I play any type of game it tends to carry over into my daily life. For example, years ago we use to have a Ms. Pacman machine in the lifeguard room at the club where I swam. After practice, we would all pop our coins in the machine and play for hours. After a few games of this, I would go to read a book and my eyes would want to run up and down and cross over the lines of the book as if Ms. Pacman herself were in the pages running from the ghosts.

After I got my Nintendo and starting playing Animal Crossing I would notice patches of clovers in the yards and would want to pull them to clean up my "city" and possibly earn good luck four-leaf clover for my pockets. Or I would see discarded furniture at the end of someone's driveway and think about how I should grab that and sell it to Tom Nook.

Now that I'm playing Farmville on Facebook, I've started noticing all sorts of crops that are ready to be harvested outside of the game.

Wheat

Peppers

Blueberries or could it be Eggplant?

Squash

Pumpkins

So far I haven't spotted any brown cows that look like they need to be milked for their chocolate milk nor have I seen any white or black sheep to be sheared. I wouldn't mind pulling some hair off of horses, but alas, I haven't run into them either. But I'm looking for the pink aura that surrounds them...

Weekend Memories

1. She talked again about getting the dog, and then her father and I talked about getting the dog. I guess I have some thinking to do.

2. I was taking an arty photo and then he walked in front of me and made the picture even better.

3. Their eyes were just wide with all the sights as our boat sailed down the canal and the song kept repeating, "It's a small world after all."

4. I was remembering Disney when my girls were younger, strolling through the streets avoiding all the feet and bodies, determined to get to where they wanted to go only to arrive there and find them both asleep in the stroller.

5. Our first day together at Disney ended with a ferry ride that gave us a beautiful breeze to cool us all off.

Hats of Epcot and its countries

Mexico - I always stop in Mexico for a frozen margarita. This time we actually looked at the map and discovered there was another attraction. Across the way from my eatery is a building that takes you into a re-creation of the market streets in Mexico at night. There was also a boat ride and a candle-lit restaurant, but the market place was awesome.

This hat was too small.

This hat was too small and too blue.

This hat was better, but not quite right.

But this hat? This hat was awesome.

***

Norway - We ventured into this country because it too had a boat ride. We had been on this before and it isn't anything spectacular, but the movie after the ride is worth taking a look. Plus it is in air-conditioning and those who drink too many margaritas in Mexico can catch a quick cat nap.

This hat was too girly.

This hat was too manly.

***

China - This is an interesting country in the World Show Case with a lot to explore. It is also one of the countries in the new Kim Possible Game with lots of hidden places. We watched the 180-degree movie on China and shopped a bit, but alas, no hats.

Epcot - Each time we visit Epcot we find something new to explore. This trip we went into the flight simulator that took us to Mars. Epcot is definitely an all-day park visit and it still has, in my opinion, the best closing show of all the parks. While it isn't a country, it still has its own hats.

This hat was too bulky.

This hat was too small

This hat was too big.

This hat was too silly.

***

And this last hat?

This hat was just PERFECT!

The animals of Animal Kingdom

While in the Animal Kingdom we took a two-week safari, which unfortunately had to be cut short due to elephant poachers, but we did get to see quite a few animals up close and personal.

The giraffes were all over the area as we drove through the terrain. This little one was trying to camouflage herself, but our guide was an expert and pointed her out.

This elephant wasn't hiding from the heat like most of the other elephants so I was able to get a fairly decent photo.

This ostrich was close enough that I could have petted her, but we weren't supposed to reach our hands out of the jeep so I didn't. Instead, I took her picture and she was quite happy to pose for it.

These two rhinos were relaxing in the shade far off from the rest of their group who were bathing in the watering hole.

After the safari, we strolled through the area and observed this meerkat who was posing for our group. He was a hoot. He just scampered on to the rock and would turn and pose, turn and pose while everyone snapped his picture. He was my kind of guy!

For a moment Sharon and I thought our brothers had joined us here in Animal Kingdom (both are named Russell). This guy was a tad scary as we were only divided by a deep trench. He sat for awhile staring at all of us, then made a noise, shook his body, and loped off on all fours.

This little gal lived in the same area as the meerkat, but allowed him to get all the attention while she stayed back enjoying a little green for lunch.

Our Disney photo re-creation

Picture #1 - Standing in line for over thirty minutes with four children waiting to get our photo with Tigger made us forgo the re-creation of our first photo. As I said, you can't just approach a character on the street for a photo anymore. If you want to meet the character, stand in line folks! We opted to let the handler take all of us in the picture and we invited Pooh to join us. (Tom too was photographing)

Picture #2 - We didn't see the chipmunks until after we were leaving the park and the line was too long, so we asked Goofy to be our substitute and he obliged.

Picture #3 - We didn't get to Epcot and we didn't find the place where Sharon was run over originally. Instead, I caught her at this moment.

Picture #4 - I never caught Sharon and Tom together in our unit, but I did catch these two....

Disney's Labor Day Weekend

We are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, a piece of property that Walt Disney didn't get a chance to buy during his secret purchases, making it the only property on Disney not owned by Disney. Or so the Wyndham people keep telling me.

It is a newer Wyndham property and they are still working on it currently building a new tower for Presidential Reserve members like myself.

Despite my being at Bonnet Creek in May and also having listened to a spiel five weeks ago in Wisconsin, I was scheduled for a breakfast to listen to the exciting happenings in Bonnet Creek. We all trooped up to the main building at 11:00 AM to eat and collect the $75 visa card they were willing to fork over for me to attend. Breakfast turned out to be a choice of juices, coffee, and assorted packaged bars or bagels. There were also some apples, but they had been picked over pretty well. So much for the big breakfast, I had been promised.

Our representative surveyed the scene and sent everyone else back to the unit stocked up on packaged junk so that she could talk to just Tom and me. Two hours later we left armed with a contract that would "lower that maintenance fee" my mother pays for her property in the Dells, our visa cards worth $75, and two headaches. Nice people, but they have to understand that purchasing more property will not be happening in the next few years. We can't even use what we have!

We got to the Magic Kingdom at about 2:00 PM. The heat index was sky high and the sun was just beating down turning everything fire hot. You didn't dare touch anything that was in the sun or you would scald yourself.

John and I are people who sweat up north in the winter and from the moment we stepped out of the car, between the two of us, we could have filled a couple of 25-meter pools.

Disney always decorates for the season or for an occasion. The Magic Kingdom was decorated for Halloween with oranges, browns, and yellows everywhere along Main Street. There were pumpkins with all sorts of different faces. And of course, Mickey Pumpkins.

We arrived just in time to see the end of the musical show on the castle stage. Ben's eyes were wide open at all the familiar characters dancing and prancing and chattering on stage. Disney certainly knows how to put on a show and when the fireworks went off at the end even I got a little teary-eyed at the magic of it all.

We rode plenty of rides. Saw plenty of characters. Took plenty of pictures so we can go back years from now and remember it like it was yesterday.

 

We had a great day despite the heat. We got some showers that cooled off everything and the sun went behind clouds after 5:00 PM and made for a nice evening. The park was crowded, but not overly so and we managed to slurp down some delicious frozen lemonades.

Not a bad way to spend the holiday weekend.